Sterling Ruby “SPECTERS KYOTO”
Dates: Nov 25, 2023 – Jan 20, 2024
Location: Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto
Opening Reception: Saturday, Nov 25, 16:30 – 18:30

Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto is pleased to present “SPECTERS KYOTO,” a solo exhibition by Sterling Ruby
running from November 25th, 2023 to January 20th, 2024. This exhibition is in conjunction with two othersolo shows running concurrently at Taka Ishii Gallery (TERRADA ART COMPLEX II) and at the Sogetsu
Plaza in Tokyo, all featuring new work by the artist.

In this new exhibition, Sterling Ruby builds on themes explored during his participation in Desert X in 2019,stepping into the world of folk magic and the supernatural. The artist draws influences from both Japaneseand Euro-American myth and legend as well as from the artist’s own early interactions with colonial folklore.
Raised a few miles from an infamous local spot known as “Hex” Hollow, the history of Ruby’s hometown inPennsylvania was steeped in notions of witchcraft, hauntings and local legends. After a trip to East Asia in
September 2014, Ruby also became interested in the ghostly tales deep-rooted in Japanese-Buddhist tradition,
particularly kaidan, a genre of Japanese ghost stories, which evoked a greater curiosity in the artist in whatcomes after death.

Taking advantage of the earthen aesthetic and unique architectural features of the traditional wooden
residence that now houses the Kyoto gallery, the artist presents works that “haunt” the space. Ruby makes
use of found organic materials that hold deep symbolism within Japanese and Euro-American horror tales,from hair and wood, to animal bones and dried gourds. Inspired by the kaidan stories of Greek-Japanesewriter Lafcadio Hearn, his sculptural and collaged works make direct reference to the Japanese yōkai spirits

rokurokubi, the spirit whose neck stretches like a water well’s pulley, and tsuzura no bakemono, literally the“demon in the wicker hamper.” From his own American viewpoint, Ruby also explores common horror tropes
like the “ghost bride.” The exhibition further features the artist’s works on paper that evoke undertones ofthe otherworldly, with their delicate yet ghostly pen markings forming skeletal objects and body parts.

The selection of paintings, ceramics, sculptures and works on paper gracefully weave throughout the innerand outer spaces of the machiya townhouse in the artist’s exploration of the life and afterlife of the “specter.”[Concurrent Exhibitions]
Sterling Ruby “Heat. Minthe. Swells.”
Dates: November 23 – December 23, 2023
Location: Taka Ishii Gallery (TERRADA ART COMPLEX II)Sterling Ruby “SPECTERS TOKYO”
Dates: November 23 – December 23, 2023
Location: Stone garden “Heaven,” The Sogetsu Kaikan 1F

Born in 1972, Sterling Ruby works with a wide range of aesthetic and material strategies from sculptures
made of saturated, glossy, poured polyurethane, bronze, and steel, to drawings, collages, richly glazed
ceramics, paintings, photography, and video, as well as textile works that include quilts, tapestries, garments,and soft sculptures. His work is a balancing act, maintaining a constant tension between a multitude ofelements. It deals with issues related to the violence and pressures within society, and art history, even as it
also reflects his personal history. In all of his work, he vacillates between the fluid and static, the minimalistand expressionistic, the pristine and the defaced.

Ruby’s solo exhibitions include Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome (2021); Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens(2021); the ICA Miami (2019) which traveled to the ICA Boston (2020); Museum of Arts and Design, NewYork (2018); Winterpalais, Belvedere Museum, Vienna (2016); FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012)
which traveled to Centre D’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2012) and to Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome(2013); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2008). In 2014 he participated in the Gwangju Biennale,Taipei Triennale, and Whitney Biennial.

Ruby’s sculpture DOUBLE CANDLE (2018) is installed permanently at the Hirshhorn Museum andSculpture Garden, Washington, DC. His works are included in the collections of Museum of Modern Art,New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museumof Contemporary Art Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art;
Tate Modern, London; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Moderna
Museet, Stockholm among others.

For further information, please contact:
Exhibition: Elisa Uematsu / Press: Shunji Noda, Misa Namai (press@takaishiigallery.com)
123 Yada-cho Shimogyo-ku Kyoto 600-8442 tel: +81 (0)75 366 5101 fax: +81 (0)75 366 5327
e-mail: tigkyoto@takaishiigallery.com website: www.takaishiigallery.com
Thu – Sat 10:00 – 17:30 Closed Sun – Wed and National Holidays

Sterling Ruby
“Crystal Nails”, 2023
Glass crystals, latex
6.3 x 24.1 x 29.2 cm© Sterling Ruby
Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Sterling Ruby
“DRFTRS (8484)”, 2023
Collage, paint, and glue on paper
25.4 x 19.7 cm© Sterling Ruby
Photo: Robert Wedemeyer